Organisation

prof. dr. E.O. (Enoch) Aboh

Learnability of Human Languages
  • Faculty of Humanities
    Capaciteitsgroep Taalwetenschap
  • Spuistraat  210
    1012 VT  Amsterdam
  • E.O.Aboh@uva.nl
    T:  0205253875

MY INTERESTS

Learnability of Human Language with a special focus on theoretical syntax; comparative syntax (e.g., Kwa vs. Germanic/Romance, Kwa vs. Sinitic, Kwa vs. Caribbean creoles); discourse-syntax interface; language creation and language change.

TOPIC AND FOCUS

The aim of this research project is to investigate the nature of the interface between discourse pragmatics and syntax. We propose to study how focus and topic interact with clause structure and how syntactic rules driving clause structure and discourse/pragmatic properties interact. This research project was in the context of my NWO ( The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)  Vidi-grant (€ 600 000; September 2003-October 2008).

AFRICAN LINGUISTICS SCHOOL

The first African Linguistics School (ALS) took place during the summer of 2009, July 28th-August 8th in Lebone, Ghana.

ALS is a two week school that focuses on the study of African languages and linguistic theory. The school aims at offering African students the possibility of becoming familiar with new advances in linguistic description and theory.

The second school (ALS 2011) was held in Porto-Novo (Benin) from July 17th-31st, 2011.

The next school (ALS 2013) will be held in Ibadan (Nigeria)

Check the following link for more information

BOOKS

Aboh, Enoch O. 2004. The Morphosyntax of Complement-head Sequences : Clause Structure and Word Order Patterns in Kwa . New York: Oxford University Press.

Aboh, Enoch O. 1999. From the syntax of Gungbe to the Grammar of Gbe. Edition à la Carte SA. Sierre, Suisse.

BOOKS AND VOLUMES EDITED

Aboh, Enoch O, Norbert Corver, Marina Dyakonova, and Marjo van Koppen eds. 2010.

DP-Internal Information Structure

.

Lingua special issue

120 (2010) 781-849.

Aboh, Enoch O and James Essegbey eds. 2010. Topics in Kwa Syntax . Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 78. Dordrecht: Springer.

Aboh, Enoch O, Elisabeth van der Linden, Josep Quer and Petra Sleeman eds. 2009. Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory. Selected papers from Going Romance Amsterdam 2007. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Aboh, Enoch O, Katharina Hartmann, and Malte Zimmermann eds. 2007. Focus strategies in Niger Congo and Afro-Asiatic. On the Interaction between Focus and Grammar in some African Languages . Berlin: Mouton.

COMING SOON

Pfau, Roland and Enoch O. Aboh (forthcoming) Spatial adpositions in sign languages. Paper presented at the   Annual Meeting of the Israel Association of Theoretical Linguistics (IATL) , Haifa , October 25 th , 2011.

ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS

Aboh, Enoch O.and Roland Pfau. 2011. What's a wh-word got to do with it? In Benincà, P. & N. Munaro (eds.), Mapping the Left Periphery.

The Cartography of Syntactic Structures

. Vol. 5 New York: Oxford University Press 91-124 .

Aboh, Enoch O. 2010. Event Operator Movement in Factives: Some Facts from Gungbe. Theoretical Linguistics 36: 153 - 162.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2010. The P-route. In Guglielmo Cinque and Luigi Rizzi (eds.) Mapping Spatial PPs . The Cartography of Syntactic Structures Vol. 6. New York: Oxford University Press. 225-260.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2010.C-type Negation markers on the Right. In Aboh, Enoch O  and James Essegbey (eds.) Topics in Kwa Syntax . Natural Language andLinguistic Theory 78. Dordrecht: Springer 109-139.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2009 Delete: A Phase-level Property. Theoretical Linguistics 35-2/3: 229-237.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2009. Clause Structure and Verb series. Linguistic Inquiry 40: 1-33.

Aboh, Enoch O and Marina Dyakonova.2009. Predicate doubling and Parallel Chains. Lingua 119: 1035-1065.

Aboh, Enoch O and Fabrice Nauze. 2008. Tense, Mood, and Aspect in Gungbe (Kwa). In W. Abraham & E. Leiss (eds.), Modality-aspectinterfaces - implications and typological solutions . TSL Amsterdam: Benjamins. 215-239.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2007. Focused versus non-focus wh-phrases. In Aboh, Enoch O, Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann (eds.)   Focus strategies in Niger Congo and Afro-Asiatic . Berlin :Mouton.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2007. A 'mini'relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributiveadjectives. Linguistics in The Netherlands 24: 1-13.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2007. Leftward Focus versus Rigthward Focus: the Kwa-Bantu Conspiracy. SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics 15: 81-104.       

Aboh, Enoch O. 2006. When verbalpredicates go fronting. In: Fiedler,Ines & Anne Schwarz (eds.) Papers on Information Structure in African Languages.Berlin : ZASPiL 46: 21-48

Aboh, Enoch O. 2006. Complementation in Saramaccan and Gungbe: the case of c-type modal particles . Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 24,1:1-55.

Aboh, Enoch O, Roland Pfau and Ulrike Zeshan. 2005. When a Wh-word is not a Wh-word: The Case of Indian Sign Language. In Bhattacharya, T. (ed.), The Yearbook of South Asian languages and linguistics 2005 . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 11-43.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2005. Deriving Relative and Factive constructions in Kwa. In L. Brugè, G. Giusti, N. Munaro, W. Schweikert , and G.Turano (eds.) Contributions to the thirtieth Incontro di Grammatica Generativa .Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, Venezia. 265-285.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2005. The Category P: The Kwa paradox. Linguistic Analysis 32: 615 - 646.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2005. Object Shift, Verb Movement and Verb Reduplication. In Cinque, Guglielmo and Richard Kayne (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax .  New York: Oxford University Press.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2004. Snowballing movement and Generalized Pied-Piping. In Anne Breitbath and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), Trigger .   Berlin: Mouton. 15-47.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2004. Topic and Focus within D. Linguistics in The Netherlands 21: 1-12.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2004. Left or Right? A viewfrom the Kwa Peripheral Positions. In David Adger, CécileDe Cat, and George Tsoulas (eds). Peripheries : Syntactic Edges and their Effects . Studies in Natural Languages and Linguitic Theory, volume 59.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2003. Focus constructions across Kwa. In Cege Githiora, Heather Littlefield & Victor Manfredi (eds.) Kinyira njira ! - Step firmly on the pathway ! Trends in African Linguistics 6: 7-22. Trenton New Jersey: Africa World Press.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2003. Object Shift and Verb Serialization: a cross-linguistic perspective. Piero Bottari (ed.) Proceedings of the 28th Incontrodi grammatica generativa . Lecce, Italy: Congedo Editore.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2003. Les constructions àobjet préposé et les series verbales dans les langueskwa. In Patrick Sauzet & Anne Zribi-Hertz (eds.) Linguistic Theories and Sub - Saharan languages .     

Aboh, Enoch O. 2003. Object shift and verb movement in Gbe. In Kézié K. Lébikaza (ed.) Actes du 3e Congrès Mondial de Linguistique Africaine Lomé 2000 World Congress of African Linguistics vol. 3. Koln: Rüdiger KöppeVerlag.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2002. La morphosyntaxe de la péripherie gauche nominale. In Zribi-Hertz & Daladier (eds.) La syntaxede la définitude. Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes 31: 9-26. Paris: H.Champion.

BOOK REVIEWS

Bobyleva, Ekaterina and Aboh, Enoch O. 2011. Baptista, Marlyse and Jacqueline Guéron (eds). 2007. Noun phrases in Creole languages: a multi-faceted approach.

Amsterdam: Benjamins. Language 87: 172

-

178.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2009. Lefebvre, Claire and Anne -Marie Brousseau, 2002. The Grammar of Fongbe, Berlin: Mouton. Appeared in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 30: 97-104.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2006. Zygmunt Frajzyngier, A Grammar of Lele. Stanford Monographs in African Languages, CSLI Publications, Leland Stanford Junior University. Lingua 116: 497-505.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2001. Parkvall, M. Out of Africa. African influences in Atlantic Creoles. The Carrier Pidgin 29, 1-3: 12-13.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2001. A-M Brousseau. Réalisations argumentales et classes de verbes en fongbe. Selaf 365, Peeters. Paris. Lingua 111/10: 759-769.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2000. R.M. Dechaine& V. Manfredi eds. Object Positions in Benue-Kwa. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 21-1: 96-99.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2000. Robert K. Herbert ed. African Linguistics at the Crossroads. Papers from Kwaluseni. In Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 21-2:187-191.

BOOKS EDITED

Aboh, Enoch O, Norval Smith and Anne Zribi-Hertz eds. 2012. The Grammar of Reiteration in Creole and Non-creole languages.   Creole Language Library series. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Aboh, Enoch O and Norval Smith eds. 2009. Complex Processes in New Languages. Creole Language Library series. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

COMING SOON

- The Left Periphery in the Surinamese Creoles and Gbe: On the Modularity of Substrate Transfer. In P. Muysken andN. Smith (eds.). CambridgeUniversity Press.

-Migrations and Geo-linguistics in the Eastern Aja-Tadocultural area [Joint paper with N. Smith]. In P. Muysken and N. Smith (eds.) Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS

Aboh, Enoch O and Norval Smith. 2012. The morphosyntax of non-iconic reduplications: A case study in Eastern Gbe and the Surinam creoles. In Aboh, Smith and Zribi-Hertz (eds) The Grammar of Reiteration in Creole and Non-Creole Language s. Amsterdam: Benjamins 27-76.

Aboh, Enoch O, Norval Smith and Anne Zribi-Hertz. 2012. Reduplication beyond the word level: A cross-linguistic view. In Aboh, Smith and Hertz (eds). The Grammar of Reiteration in Creole and Non-Creole Languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1-26.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2009. Competition and Selection: That's all. In E. O. Aboh and N. Smith (eds.) Complex Processes in New Languages . Amsterdam: Benjamins. 317-344.

Aboh, Enoch O and Norval Smith. 2009. Simplicity, Simplification, Complexity, and Complexification.Where have the interfacesgone? In E. O. Aboh and N. Smith (eds.) Complex Processes in New Languages . Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1-24.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2007. La genèse de la périphérie gauche du saramaka: un cas d'influence du substrat? In K. Gadelii & A. Zribi-Hertz eds., Grammaires Créoles etGrammaire Comparative. Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Paris, 73-97.

Aboh, Enoch O and Umberto Ansaldo. 2007. The role of typology in language creation: A descriptive take. In Deconstructing Creole. U. Ansaldo, S. M Mathew, and L. Lim eds., Amsterdam : Benjamins, 39-66.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2006. The role of the syntax-semantics interface in language transfer. In Claire Lefebvre , Lydia White and Christine Jourdan eds., L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis: Dialogues. Benjamins, Amsterdam . 221-252.

Aboh, Enoch O. 2004. Toward a Modular Theory of Creole Genesis. Curaçao Creole Conference Papers. Electronic version FPI, Fudashon Pa Planifikason di Idioma, Jan Noorduynweg 32b, Curaçao, Neth. Antilles. www.fpi.an .

Functional categories in Analytic Languages: Sino-Kwa

Programma (€ 600 000) Projectnummer: PR-07-9 Functional categories in analytic languages . Jointly with Leiden University . Funded by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), The Netherlands.

Description : Languages differ with respect to which functional categories they overtly realize. Whereas some overtly realize case, others overtly realize the initiation node in the verb phrase (also known as "little v "). This project aims at investigating which functional categories are overtly realized in so-called "analytic" languages and to find out whethertheyform a natural class. To this end we will study two language groups, which are both supposedly analytic, but which are geographically and genetically wide apart from one another, Sinitic (East Asia) and Kwa ( West Africa ). The results will be relevant for general theorizing on (i) language types; (ii) the nature of functional categories; (iii) the distribution of functional categories; and (iv) the question whether the verbal and nominal domains are as parallel in structure as is often assumed.

Participants : Dr. E. O. Aboh (Uva); Dr. Umberto Ansaldo (Uva) ; Dr. Linda Badan; Dr. Leston Buell; Prof. L L.L.-S. Cheng, Leiden University; Dr. R.P.E. Sybesma, Leiden University .

2014

  • E.O. Aboh, M.T. Guasti & I. Roberts (2014). Locality: an introduction. In E..O. Aboh, M.T. Guasti & I. Roberts (Eds.), Locality (Oxford studies in comparative syntax) (pp. 1-31). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • E.O. Aboh & M. DeGraff (2014). Some notes on bare nouns in Haitian creole and in Gungbe. In T..A. Åfarli & B. Mæhlum (Eds.), The Sociolinguistics of Grammar (pp. 203-236). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • E.O. Aboh (2014). The Left Periphery in the Suriname Creoles and Gbe: On the Modularity of Substrate Transfer. In P. Muysken & N. Smith (Eds.), Surviving the Middle Passage (Trends in Linguistics) (pp. 323-367). Berlin: Mouton.
  • E.O. Aboh & N.S.H. Smith (2014). Migrations, ethno-dynamics and geolinguistics in the Eastern Aja-Tado cultural Area. In P. Muysken & N. Smith (Eds.), Surviving the Middle Passage (Trends in Linguistics) (pp. 43-65). Berlin: Mouton.
  • E.O. Aboh & N.S.H. Smith (2014). Non-Iconi reduplication in Eastern Gbe and Surinam. In P. Muysken & N. Smith (Eds.), Surviving the Middle Passage (pp. 241-260). Berlin: Mouton.

2013

2011

  • E.O. Aboh & R. Pfau (2011). What’s a wh-word got to do with it? In P. Benincà & N. Munaro (Eds.), Mapping the left periphery (The cartography of syntactic structures, 5) (pp. 91-124). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2010

2009

  • E.O. Aboh (2009). Competition and selection: that’s all! In E.O. Aboh & N. Smith (Eds.), Complex processes in new languages (Creole language library, 35) (pp. 317-344). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • E.O. Aboh & N. Smith (2009). Simplicity, simplification, complexity and complexification: where have the interfaces gone? In E.O. Aboh & N. Smith (Eds.), Complex processes in new languages (Creole language library, 35) (pp. 1-25). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • E.O. Aboh (2009). Delete: a phase-level property. Theoretical Linguistics, 35 (2/3), 229-237.
  • E.O. Aboh & M. Dyakonova (2009). Predicate doubling and parallel chains. Lingua, 119 (7), 1035-1065.
  • E.O. Aboh (2009). Clause structure and verb series. Linguistic Inquiry, 40 (1), 1-33.[go to publisher's site]

2008

  • E.O. Aboh & F. Nauze (2008). Tense, mood, and aspects in Gungbe (Kwa)? In W. Abraham & E. Leiss (Eds.), Modality-aspect interfaces: implications and typological solutions Vol. 79. Typological studies in language (pp. 215-239). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

2007

  • E.O. Aboh (2007). Leftward Focus versus Rightword Focus: the Kwa-Bantu Conspiracy. SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics, 15, 81-104.
  • E.O. Aboh (2007). La genèse de la périphérie gauche du saramaka: un cas d'influence du substrat? In K. Gadelii & A. Zribi-Hertz (Eds.), Grammaires creoles et grammaire comparative (pp. 73-97). Presses Universitaires de Vincennes.
  • E.O. Aboh & U. Ansaldo (2007). The role of typology in language creation: A descriptive take. In U. Ansaldo, S. Matthews & L. Lim (Eds.), Deconstructing creole (Typological Studies in Language, 73) (pp. 39-66). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
  • E.O. Aboh (2007). A 'mini' relative clause analysis for reduplicated attributive adjectives. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 1-13.

2006

  • E.O. Aboh (2006). When verbal predicates go fronting. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 46, 21-48.
  • E.O. Aboh (2006). The role of the syntax-semantics interface in language transfer. In Claire Lefebvre, Lydia White & Christine Jourdan (Eds.), L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis: Dialogues (pp. 221-252). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
  • E.O. Aboh (2006). Complementiation in Saramaccan and Gungbe: the case of c-type modal particles. Natural language and linguistic theory, 24 (1), 1-55.

2013

  • E.O. Aboh, T. Veenstra & N.S.H. Smith (2013). Saramaccan structure dataset. In S.M. Michaelis, P. Maurer, M. Haspelmath & M. Huber (Eds.), Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • E.O. Aboh, N.S.H. Smith & T. Veenstra (2013). Saramaccan. In S. Michaelis, P. Maurer, M. Haspelmath & M. Huber (Eds.), The survey of pidgin and creole languages. - Vol. 1: English-based and Dutch-based languages (pp. 27-38). Oxford University Press.

2012

2011

  • E.O. Aboh, A. Bruyn, J. Essegbey, S. Kouwenberg, R.R. Meade, P. Muysken, M. van den Berg & T. Veenstra (2011). A tribute to Norval Smith. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 26 (2), 235-246. doi: 10.1075/jpcl.26.2.01abo

2009

  • E.O. Aboh (2009). [Review of the book A grammar of Fongbe]. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 30(1), 97-104.

2006

  • E.O. Aboh (2006). Countries and languages - Africa (including Atlantic Ocean, India). Benin: Language Situation. In K. Brown (Ed.), Contributions to the thirtieth Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Ed.). Oxford: Elsevier.

2011

  • E. Bobyleva & E.O. Aboh (2011). [Review of the book Noun phrases in Creole languages: a multi-faceted approach]. Language, 87(1), 172-178.
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